CPHI Milan 2026: Trends in Pharma

Tara Dougal, event director for Pharma at Informa Markets and head of CPHI Milan, discussed how artificial intelligence (AI) and technology are reshaping the pharmaceutical industry across multiple fronts, along with a new sustainability-focused offering at this year's event.

Dougal noted that AI technology now touches nearly every part of the business, from manufacturing optimization and quality management to regulatory compliance and commercial decision-making. She highlighted specific areas seeing rapid change. Cold chain and logistics have grown more critical as supply chains handle increasingly complex networks along with a growing volume of temperature-sensitive products and advanced therapies. Contamination control remains foundational to product quality, patient safety, and compliance, with expectations around sterile manufacturing continuing to rise. Labeling is also evolving quickly, driven by serialization, track-and-trace requirements, anti-counterfeiting measures, and a broader push toward more sustainable solutions.

Building on that sustainability theme, Dougal announced the launch of a brand-new Sustainability Summit at this year's event. The paid conference will run on the first 2 days of the show and is designed to offer attendees a genuine deep dive into the biggest sustainability challenges facing pharma. It aims to bring together a targeted, high-value audience of professionals genuinely committed to driving better outcomes across the industry.

Dougal emphasized that while sustainability itself isn’t a new topic for pharma, this summit is meant to push the conversation past broad statements of ambition and into practical, actionable territory. The focus will be on what companies can actually do, what barriers stand in their way, what they can learn from one another, and how different parts of the supply chain can collaborate to drive real, actionable change.

Dougal’s remarks point to 2 connected trends shaping CPHI Milan in 2026: the accelerating role of AI and technology across manufacturing, compliance, and logistics, and a sharper, more action-oriented focus on sustainability as a core industry priority rather than an aspirational talking point.

Click the above video to watch the interview.